Helping Toddlers Understand Their Emotions Expert Tips Advice. PBS Parents. It wasnt so long ago that the conventional wisdom was that babies were pretty much blobs who didnt think or feel much before they could speak in words around the age of two. The idea that a six month old could feel fear or anger, no less sadness and grief, was preposterous. But thanks to an explosion in research on infancy in the last 3. New Xp Live Blue Download Arrow. Starting in the earliest months of life, well before they can use words to express themselves, babies have the capacity to experience peaks of joy, excitement and elation. They also feel fear, grief, sadness, hopelessness and angeremotions that many adults understandably still find it hard to believe, or accept, that very young children can experience. Research has also shown that childrens ability to effectively manage their full range of emotionsalso known as self regulationis one of the most important factors for success in school, work and relationships into the long term. So a critical first step in helping your child learn to cope with her feelings is not to fear the feelings, but embrace themall of them. Feelings arent right or wrong, they just are. Sadness and joy, anger and love, can co exist and are all part of the collection of emotions children experience. When you help your child understand his feelings, he is better equipped to manage them effectively. One major obstacle in doing this which I see quite often in my work with parents is that they are operating under the assumption that having a happy child means he needs to be happy all the time. Something I still have to keep reminding myself despite the fact that my children are in their twenties Muscling through difficult experiences, mastering struggles, and coping with sadness and grief builds strength and resilience, and is ultimately what brings children a sense of contentedness and well being. What can parents do Our childrens emotional reactions trigger our own emotional reactions, which can lead to a knee jerk need to rescue or fix whatever is causing our child distress. But its important that we manage our own feelings and avoid this temptation, as it creates a missed opportunity to help children learn strong coping skills. Instead, see these experiences as teachable moments to help your child learn to name and manage the emotionspositive and negativethat add depth and color to our lives. Show your child that a full, rich life means experiencing both the ups and the downs. Feelings are not good or badthey just are. You are your childs guide in sharing the joys and coping with the challenges. And it starts on day one. Activities To Teach Emotions To Toddlers' title='Activities To Teach Emotions To Toddlers' />Paper Plate Emotion Masks No Time For Flash Cards. Getting kids to talk about feelings is not always easy, one way to do it is to make it into play. These emotion masks can be elaborate  with colors or simple and black and white like ours. The goal of this activity isnt to have award winning art work, instead its to play with and open up a dialogue about feelings with your kids. We had a great chat about feeling sad which would have not otherwise come up. Have you blogged bout emotions Ways to teach about them If you have one link your post up belowThe Technical Assistance Center on Social Emotional Intervention for Young Children TACSEI Families Community has information and resources for parents and caregivers. TrackbacksPingbacks. Activities to Teach Kids About Emotions Emotions Scavenger Hunt from Mosswood Connections 20 Fun Scavenger Hunt Ideas Welcome to. The first iPad was released in April 2010. Three years later, a Pew Internet survey found that half of American parents with children at home own a tablet computer. Terrific Toddlers. This is a very exciting time in a childs life. Your child will be amazing you with how much they are learning every day. Did you know that by 3. Gather your materials. You will need 12 a paper plate per mask. We made only 4 emotions because my son at 4 is still pretty basic about how he feels and most emotions get lumped into these 4 happy, sad, angry and silly. Explore fun engaging feelings themed activities, crafts and songs ideas for children of all ages including toddlers, preschoolers and kindergarten kids. Age Toddlers. Toddlers are my favorite age to teach and I am lucky enough to be teaching a 23yearold toddler class again this year. Toddlers are inquisitive. Pica is the craving to eat or mouth nonnutritive substances including dirt, hair, ice, paper, paint chips, chalk, and wood. Learn more about pica in kids. You will also need popsicle sticks or tongue depressors, crayons or markers, scissors and tape. I had crayons out expecting my son to want to color them but alas he went minimalistic with this one. Start by cutting the plates in half. Write the emotion on the back, if your child is beginning to read have them help you read it, if not make your face look like the emotion and ask your child if they can guess. Talk about each emotion, but dont lecture. I made the noses as per my sons request and made two emotions. He made the other two. Yes thats a permanent marker, my heart was skipping a beat while he used it. Tape the sticks on. Play with the emotions. We had fun making our eyes one emotion and our masks another. Book. Inspiration for this craft came from The Way We Feel, we read it on my i. Pod and you can too with  Me. Me. Tales   Free Mobile Reader App. We are celebrating e books from this brand new app  all week Add Your Post. Add your post about feelings, emotions and how to get your kids talking about them here.